This invention relates to a water to air heat pump and, more particularly, to such a heat pump in which the condensate removed from the air at the evaporator portion of the system is collected and passed to the condenser portion of the system, to conserve the condensate.
In conventional air conditioning systems and heat pumps, a heat exchange fluid, such as freon or the like, is usually circulated through a coil or coils of an evaporator in a heat exchange relation with air which is blown across the coil and into an area to be cooled. Since the air passing over the evaporator coil often has its temperature reduced below its dew point, water or condensate collects on the coil and its associated fins and must be disposed of in some manner.
A large number of conventional air conditioning systems and heat pumps of this type have utilized a separate piping network which is connected to a drip pan, or the like, associated with each evaporator to pass the condensate collected from the evaporator to a common drain. However, it can be appreciated that this piping network adds to the cost of the system especially in the use of large installations. For example, in high rise apartment or office buildings when three hundred or more individual units are often utilized, the addition of an equal number of piping networks, some of which extend for substantially the entire height of the building for the sole purpose of disposing of the condensate, materially adds to the cost of the system from both a materials and labor standpoint.